Summary

This is Episode 55. It’s all about birds in the avian family Phoenicopteridae. These are the flamingos.

No doubt you already know a fun fact or two about flamingos. These birds are crowd pleasers that get a lot of attention. But today we’re doing a deep dive into their biology. I’m hoping that along the way, you’ll pick up some new flamingo trivia that you can impress your friends with.

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Links of Interest

• Underwater Flamingo Feeding [VIDEO]
• Flamingo courtship dance [VIDEO]
• Over a Million Flamingos | The Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart [VIDEO]

Research Citations

• Why do flamingos stand on one leg?
• Mechanical evidence that flamingos can support their body on one leg with little active muscular force
• Evaluating the social networks of four flocks of captive flamingos over a five-year period: Temporal, environmental, group and health influences on assortment
• A multi-locus inference of the evolutionary diversification of extant flamingos (Phoenicopteridae)
• Morphological evidence for sister group relationship between flamingos (Aves: Phoenicopteridae) and grebes [PDF]
• The color of greater flamingo feathers fades when no cosmetics are applied [PDF]

Photos of Some Species Mentioned

Attributions

• James's Flamingo sounds (Xeno Canto recordings XC2473)

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